We had a lot of little stuff to do this weekend. When the older kids were little, Jim and I wanted to have the kids buy gifts for each other, but money was always tight. We established the tradition of giving them a few dollars, turning them loose in the Dollar Tree, and letting them go crazy buying stuff for their siblings. Some of the crazy things they got for each other have been the best Christmas memories. It is a tradition that the kids actually look forward to, and not doing it isn't really an option at this point! So on Friday, we picked up Harper's glasses that were finally in, and made a pit stop for the annual ridiculous-fest. Armed with her money, Saige was delirious with excitement, as this is the first year that we let her go at it without a chaperone. I stood at the door (because...Topeka) and waited. I could hear her giggling all through the store. It may be a weird tradition, to buy a bag of odd junk, but they all had so much fun, and it always makes Christmas morning entertaining. Saige also used an entire tube of wrapping paper getting everything ready! :)
Saturday afternoon, Harper's bff had a birthday party. My intention was to go buy a new cell phone charger while Harper was swimming. One look at the parking lots in Topeka, and I circled right back, watched them swim and ordered the charger off of Amazon! A big old nope from me! Harper's friend's mom offered to let Quincy and Saige swim as well, but that elicited a level of drama that I just couldn't deal with. haha! Harper and I did make one pit stop, to get Papa Murphy's for dinner. Jim's fault since he was wanting pizza!
Mallory joined us for pizza, and then took the little girls to Winter Wonderland for their annual trek through the light show. She tried to take Preston and Quincy as well, but they were just not excited about it!
Andrew and Madison wanted to run to town, but Evie wasn't feeling well. I offered to watch her so she didn't have to go. The house was very quiet, since Mallory had taken the little girls. Quincy and I had a good time playing with the sick baby. She is running a fever, and has a miserable cold. I hope she feels better for her birthday tomorrow, as well as for Christmas. Poor little thing.
Quincy is the sacristan at church this month. She was very happy at how many people stayed to set up for Christmas Eve mass! Decorating by yourself would be awful! She still has to go meet Aunt Karen tomorrow, but most of the hard work is done! I am always impressed with this little church. They set up a ton of stuff, got lights strung, and made everything look beautiful in a fairly short amount of time! I will say I was relieved that someone else (taller than we are) was willing to do the ladder stuff! :)
Christmas is a weird holiday for me. I have parts of it that I absolutely love. The birth of Jesus, the quiet simplicity of the season. Mary's yes. The family togetherness. The baking, cooking, preparing to be together, the kid's excitement, and giving are all things I truly enjoy. The overblown commercialization, the shopping, the days and days and days of Christmas music, neediness of the school, random Christmas programs and parties thrown into an already busy time, to me are overwhelming and take so much away from the message of the season, that I find it to be not enjoyable. I also find that as I get older, I miss my grandparents, and the "old" days. Christmas is a time when I find myself reflecting a lot on how things were, how things are now, and where we are heading in life. This year, I can honestly say I have been overwhelmed with gratitude. Our lives are good. Our kids are thriving and healthy. Being a grammy is a tremendous blessing. Our dreams of owning a place in the country are being lived. I married a man who I am still crazy about. Life is really, really good. I also had a thought that I have a responsibility to my kids and my granddaughter (and future grandkids) to be the person who makes their memories of the holidays good. I want to be the kind of grandma that my grandma was to me. I want them all to laugh about the crazy ideas I had, know and love their cousins, and have warm memories of their old days. I may miss my grandparents, but the best way to honor them is to build traditions and fond memories for a lifetime.
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